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A vintage scene at one of Scotlandís oldest courses, the Royal Dornoch Golf Club, located in an area of northern Scotland with a documented history of the game reaching back to 1616. The region is planning 400th anniversary celebrations in 2016.Photo: Handout

A young Canadian historian has been entrusted with Scotland’s most sacred scholarly task: to shed new light on the origins of golf, a pillar of Scottish identity and one of the country’s most distinctive contributions to global culture.

And as proof of how seriously Cormack’s probe of golf’s roots is being taken in Scotland, the official launch of the initiative on Tuesday drew strong backing from the country’s first minister, Alex Salmond, who issued a statement declaring: “Scotland is the home of golf, and this academic research will help us understand more about the game’s early history and those who played it.”

Salmond, who aspires to make Scotland politically independent from the U.K., was hailing the significance of golf for Scottish identity while still under attack from some critics for his so-called “stunt” of waving the Saltire — Scotland’s national flag — while seated directly behind British Prime Minister David Cameron as they celebrated Scots tennis player Andy Murray’s victory at Wimbledon last weekend.

Tuesday’s project tee-off at the Royal Dornoch, which contributed $85,000 to Cormack’s PhD funding, was also highlighted by the appearance of Scottish golf star and 1999 British Open winner Paul Lawrie, who said the Canadian’s work will be key to “knowing more about the history of our game” and helping Scotland promote golf tourism.

“Dornoch takes great pride in its history and heritage, being one of the oldest clubs in Scotland,” added Neil Hampton, Royal Dornoch’s general manager. “Finding out more about this important period will help us better understand how we were involved in helping to spread the game of golf around the world.”

Founded in 1877, the Royal Dornoch is one of golf’s earliest and most renowned links-style courses, characterized by the rugged landscape of Scottish coastline. But the game’s roots reach back centuries in the region, making it one of the oldest known sites in the golf’s development.

The earliest documented reference to the sport in the Dornoch area dates from 1616, when 10-year-old John, the 13th Earl of Sutherland, is known to have spent 10 pounds on “bows and arrows, golf clubs and balls.”

That document provides the basis for Dornoch’s planned celebrations in 2016 of the 400th anniversary of golfing in northern Scotland, during which Cormack’s research results are expected to be showcased in a historical exhibit and scholarly publication.

Another famous reference to the sport dates from 1628, when Sir Robert Gordon offered this description of the area around Dornoch: “About this town along the sea coast are the fairest and largest links or green fields of any part of Scotland, fitt (fit) for archery, golfing, ryding and al (all).”

Cormack told Postmedia News he was “speechless” when he found out he’d been selected from an unknown number of candidates to undertake the research project.

He said he expects to spend many hours probing major national archives as well as small, regional libraries and museums unearthing evidence of golf’s evolution in Dornoch from the early 17th century to the 19th century, including its connections with such southerly birthplace sites as St. Andrew’s, home of the “Royal and Ancient Golf Club.”

“I’ll be looking to see if I can find more references,” said Cormack, to “fill the 175-year gap” between the young Earl of Sutherland’s brief mention of golfing in the area to more substantial records of people playing the game in the late 1700s.

Cormack’s own “strong Scottish connections” were highlighted by the university as the project was launched. Ancestors on both sides of the from Huntsville, Ont., man’s family emigrated from Scotland to Canada in the early 19th century.

Cormack said his research could illuminate the evolution of several sports — including hunting and fishing — in the Moray Firth region around Dornoch.

“I believe this is a very important project for the golf club because it will be able to use the research to celebrate the longevity of the game of golf in the area, build their prestige as being one of the oldest golfing centres, and promote the game as a continual historical pastime of the Scottish people,” Cormack added in the official statement announcing the initiative. “For golf in general, this project will help to uncover the foundations of the game, and answer more questions about who played, where they played and what it was like.”

Promoting all aspects of Scotland’s distinctiveness — from its traditional tartan dress to its emigrant history to its affinity with other northern nations to the development of curling — has been a high-profile part of the nationalism-stoking strategy of Salmond’s pro-independence Scottish National Party.

Earlier this year, Salmond hosted several international medal-winning Scottish curling teams at his official Edinburgh residence, commenting that “Scotland has an unrivalled heritage in the roaring game of curling, which originated here more than five hundred years ago and has brought us some fantastic sporting success on the world stage, of which the whole of Scotland is justifiably proud.”